Nowadays it is common to capture several images having overlapping fields of view and stitch them together so as to generate a panoramic image having a field of view corresponding to the combined field of view of the individual images. For example, a multi-sensor camera may be used to simultaneously capture several images and stitch the images together to provide a panoramic image.
Image stitching is generally the process of combining multiple images having overlapping fields of view. The stitching process may be divided into several process stages. First the images are aligned such that they are transformed to have matching viewpoints. For example, if two images are to be stitched, one of the images may be transformed to match the view point of the other of the images. The alignment stage may then be followed by a blending stage in which image data of the multiple images is combined in the overlap of the images, for example, by forming linear combinations of the image data. The purpose of the blending is to make the transition between the images smoother so that a user will experience the stitched image as one single image.
The blending stage of the stitching process is usually computationally demanding, especially if a large overlap between the images is to be blended. There is thus room for improvements.